Drucella Andersen
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
July 15, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-4727)
Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone: 415/604-9000)
Pat Cariseo
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/267-3441)
RELEASE: 93-127
NASA, FAA PROGRAM COULD SAVE AIRLINES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will
co-host a briefing July 19-20 for aviation industry
representatives about a NASA-developed automated air traffic
control tool that could save airlines hundreds of millions of
dollars.
The Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS) helps air traffic
controllers schedule arriving aircraft more effectively, starting
when planes are still about 200 miles from an airport. The
briefing at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.,
will describe how CTAS works, review NASA's research to date and
discuss the FAA's plans to deploy the system.
The FAA predicts that bringing CTAS on-line at just 12
selected airports will save airlines nearly $600 million in
operating costs and reduced delays by the year 2000.
"CTAS is a prime example of how the combined strength of
research, operations and manufacturing organizations, leveraged
together, will help the United States prevail in the global
marketplace," said Wesley L. Harris, NASA's Associate
Administrator for Aeronautics.
The FAA's Associate Administrator for System Engineering &
Development, Marty Pozesky, describes CTAS as "a joint FAA/NASA
research and development effort to enhance flight efficiency by
incorporating new air traffic control automation into the existing
system."
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"We have designed CTAS tools to bridge the gap between
controllers and pilots, thereby improving the efficiency of the
air traffic system as a whole," said Dr. Heinz Erzberger, Chief
CTAS Designer.
Inefficient, inconsistent spacing between aircraft creates
delays in airport arrivals. The FAA has regulations that govern
the spacing of arrivals at each of the nation's airports, but air
traffic controllers normally add a "buffer" to that distance based
on their individual experience and judgment.
CTAS helps controllers to more accurately space the aircraft
by monitoring aircraft during the last 20 minutes of flight and
presenting information on displays that pop up on the screen
controllers normally use. The system has three highly integrated,
automated parts:
-- Traffic Management Advisor looks at planes as they come in
from all directions while they are still about 200-300 miles from
the airport. As the aircraft approaches, it develops a plan to
handle the traffic effectively according to the spacing
requirements for that airport.
-- Descent Advisor generates graphic displays of space and
time relationships among incoming planes as they converge on an
aerial "gate" about 40 miles out and provides controllers with
accurate, fuel-efficient descent and vectoring advisories.
-- Final Approach Spacing Tool lets controllers make
corrections to the spacing between aircraft after they have flown
through the gate and are within 40 miles of the airport.
NASA began to research the air traffic control process in the
late 1970s. The advent of graphics-oriented computers in the
1980s provides the means for taking these research ideas from the
laboratory to the field.
Since May 1992, NASA and the FAA have been testing CTAS at
Stapleton International Airport, Denver, and the air route traffic
control center in Longmont, Colo. The simpler parts of the system
are used in operations while the more complex parts work in
"shadow" mode, where real radar data drives CTAS and the system
provides advisories, but controllers do not act on them. NASA
personnel are located in the facility and get real-time feedback
from participating controllers.
Similar CTAS operations are slated to begin soon at
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. NASA researchers believe
that area will be an excellent test of the system because there is
heavy traffic and the airport is surrounded by many satellite
airfields.
The limited deployment of CTAS is a multi-million-dollar part
of the FAA's Terminal Automation program, a new air traffic
control system that will be in place by the end of this decade.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: Media representatives wishing to attend the
NASA/FAA briefing should call the NASA Ames Media Services Office
at 415/604-9000, by noon PDT on Friday, July 16, to make
arrangements. CTAS demonstrations will be conducted on Tuesday,
July 20, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. PDT in the Space Sciences
Auditorium, Building N-245, at Ames.
A video clip on CTAS is available by calling NASA Broadcast and
Imaging Branch at 202/358-1733.
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